“Before They Were Soldiers”
Iowa Central Community College
ISBN 979-8328497619
$12.76 (hardcover on Amazon)
Anyone who has seen the film “We Were Soldiers” starring Mel Gibson has seen how war impacts the personal lives of not just those who went to war but also the families who stayed behind and prayed for their safety.
In a remarkable project, Iowa Central Community College has produced “Before They Were Soldiers: A Compendium of Servicemen’s Lives Who Make the Ultimate Sacrifice in Vietnam.”
The brainchild of T.J. Martin, dean of distance learning at Iowa Central, and facilitated by Kurt Schmid, Iowa Central history professor, the book is composed of brief biographies of 51 servicemen in the nine-county Iowa Central Community College service district who died in Vietnam.
Martin and Schmid created a class in which students interviewed and wrote brief documentaries of servicemen’s lives, from the time they were born to their early formative years, and finally when they shipped off to war.
Some of the servicemen were seasoned veterans, having served in World War II and the Korean War. Others were barely 19. All left a mark on people’s lives.
Interviewees included siblings, parents and friends. The stories tell of men who graduated from West Point and the Air Force and Naval academies and could have gone on to achieve great things. They also include biographies of draftees who found a direction in life only after having entered the service. Some died shortly after having landed in South Vietnam while others ended their lives days before their scheduled return home.
Donald Henry Holm of Fort Dodge was killed in action by mortar fire in An Loc Nov. 18, 1967, when his wife Pat was pregnant with his only daughter Audra.
Jack Rae Smith of Clarion died March 31, 1970, when he took the brunt of a grenade to save his buddies.
Thomas Richard Poundstone of Clarion died on his 25th birthday when the Chinook helicopter he was flying crashed in foggy weather southwest of Tam Quan City in Bink Dink Province.
For William Harrison Pease of Fort Dodge, death came more than three years later due to wounds sustained in the war.
While Vietnam may be a “forgotten war” to those not alive when it happened, it will never be forgotten by the families and friends who remember the sacrifice of their loved ones.
The modest price of $12.76 on Amazon for this hardcover book is remarkable. Even more remarkable is what the student interviewers and writers have accomplished in this project.
Michael Tidemann writes from Estherville.